


The Truth is the Least of Your Problems

by AnagramRMX



Series: The Power of Three (Plus Two) [8]
Category: Charmed, Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fusion, Crossover, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Episode Style, F/M, Family, Gen, Truth Spells
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-18
Updated: 2014-08-18
Packaged: 2018-02-13 18:25:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 19,628
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2160567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnagramRMX/pseuds/AnagramRMX
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A string of strange murders plagues San Francisco, sending Dean and Phoebe on a hunt right when Prue decides to cast a spell that will help her tell Andy about the family secret. Little do they know that the spell will interfere with the hunt, as well as cause a lot of problems for Sam at school.</p><p>Or, Episode 8 of charmed if Sam and Dean were Halliwells.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Truth is the Least of Your Problems

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry for the wait to anyone who's been following this story. Thank you for sticking with me, and a million thank yous to my new beta rken42!

There was something satisfying about signing her name at the bottom of the page.

Although there was nothing really special about it, this signature made Prue feel relief course throughout her body. She sat up a little straighter as she handed the papers back to the nurse.

“Alright then, Ms. Halliwell, I’ll have Doctor Shaeffer look at these and then you’ll be all set to leave,” the nurse said, smiling at her brightly before walking back out of the room.

Prue relaxed against the incline of her hospital bed, happy that this was almost over.

It had been almost a week since she had been admitted to San Francisco General Hospital because of a magical potion that had gone terribly wrong. While her family had been able to fix it within the day, the doctors had been baffled by her sudden case of ‘extreme exhaustion’ as well as her surprise recovery. They had insisted on keeping her so that they could run tests and make sure she would not pass on whatever strange malady she had.

She looked over at her cousins and sister, who were sitting at her bedside. They looked as relieved as she felt, and she couldn’t blame them. Even though she wasn’t ill anymore, they had all been at least a little worried that the doctors would find out that they were witches while running their tests.

Those chances had been slim of course, but there was no harm in feeling a little bit of relief now that they knew for sure.

Sam smiled at her slightly. “You ready to go home and see the mess we made of the manor?” he teased.

Prue could only smile back. “Especially to see the mess,” she laughed. “I’m so tired of how clean this place is…”

“If you ask me, I’m tired of this place period,” Dean added, cringing a little when he looked around the white-walled room. “We have been spending way too much time here lately.”

“You just don’t like hospitals,” Prue said, and Dean made a face.

“Why would anyone like this place?”

Prue rolled her eyes a little before looking back around the room. Phoebe was looking at the door, and perked up suddenly.

When Prue followed her line of sight, she saw that Piper had just walked through the door, looking frustrated. She had walked outside ten minutes ago so that she could take a phone call from her boss.

“Uh-oh,” Phoebe announced. “I know that expression. What did Martin say this time?”

“Oh, just that I have to be there in ten minutes…”

Prue’s brow wrinkled. “ _What_? Why? You’ve worked a double shift for the past two days!”

“I know…I know,” Piper sighed. “There’s this convention in town, though, and business…”

“No-no-no,” interrupted Dean, standing up from his seat and looking at Piper pointedly. “You said you were gonna talk to him about this.”

“I haven’t gotten around to it.”

She looked guilty when she looked at Prue and saw that her older sister was disappointed. “You really can’t stick around for me to go home?”

Piper shook her head, reaching out a hand to squeeze Prue’s apologetically. “Sorry…” she said. “Big-welcome home dinner tomorrow, though: I promise.” She smiled theatrically, and waited until Prue laughed before she turned away, waving at the others as she left the room.

Once she was gone, Phoebe frowned, and looked back across the room at Dean. “Who wants to make a bet about how long it will take her to tell him to screw off?” she grumbled.

Her cousin gave her a dry laugh in response. “No bet.”

 

(-:-)

 

It was another five minutes before the nurse finally came back to let them know Prue was free to leave. The eldest Halliwell excitedly rushed out of bed so that she could change into her own clothes. Then they were on their way out of the building.

Phoebe grinned at her sister, and bumped shoulders with her as they walked through the corridor on their way out. “So what’s your first act as a free woman going to be?” she joked.

The joke made Prue smile, but a few moments later, she looked at the ground. “Actually,” she started slowly. “I was thinking that once we get home, I should invite Andy over.”

Dean’s eyebrows rose suggestively as he looked over at her, and a few moments later, she rolled her eyes.

“Dean! That’s not what I meant.”

“Well that’s sure what it sounded like!” Dean laughed. “C’mon, why else would you invite your boyfriend over after you’ve been in the hospital for a week?”

“Not everything is about sex,” Prue sighed. “I wanted him to come over so that we could talk. Maybe I could tell him…” She paused as an orderly walked by, and after a moment, just waved her hands illustratively.

Each of the others felt their jaws go slack. “Woah…you…” Dean started. “You’re gonna tell him?”

Prue shrugged. “I don’t think that I can avoid it anymore,” she said. “It’s not fair to keep it from him. After everything that’s happened, he deserves to know the truth. I just wish I knew how.”

They quieted down as they saw a man further down the hallway, walking in their direction.

At the moment, Phoebe didn’t think much about him. He wasn’t particularly tall, or particularly attractive. He was mostly bald, with blondish hair along the sides of his head. There was really no real reason for them to be so quiet, except in an attempt to keep their secret.

All the same, as they brushed past him, Phoebe’s hand hit his sleeve for a brief moment, and a vision rushed into her head without warning.

She gasped, stopping the others in their tracks as an image of a woman appeared in her head. She looked terrified, with her eyes open wide. Briefly, Phoebe saw the man that had just walked past them. He was standing in front of the woman, holding her in place as a beam of light shot from his forehead. The woman screamed when it hit her, and Phoebe snapped out of the premonition, breathing hard.

The first thing she saw when she opened her eyes was Dean, who had pulled her over to the side of the hallway, and kept her steady. Sam and Prue were right next to him, looking concerned, but Phoebe’s first priority was not to console them.

Instead, she jerked away, looking up and down the hallway for any sign of the killer. He had vanished, though, and the idea that she couldn’t stop him made Phoebe’s stomach start to bubble with unease.

She bounced on the heels of her feet anxiously as she kept looking. “Oh no, oh no…”

Dean appeared at her side, putting a hand on her shoulder before asking, “What did you see?”

Her eyes were wide with fear when she looked back to him.

“Someone is about to be killed.”

 

(-:-)

 

The lab felt too quiet after dark.

It was the only time that Alex could get into the lab to do his work, though. During the day, his employers were too concerned with their own tests to let him do the ones he needed to do. He was lucky that the hospital let him use the lab on his own.

There were blood samples on the lab table in front of him, standing neatly in their plastic stand. He was almost giddy with the prospect that one of them would display the effects he was hoping to find.

He pulled out a test tube, about to take a sample to work with when he heard a voice behind him. “Excuse me, are you Mr. Peterson? Alex Peterson?”

Alex looked up, putting down the sample as he turned slightly to see a man at his side. “Yeah?” he started, slightly confused. “That’s me. Can I help you?”

The man smiled, as if he were greatly pleased to have found him. “In so many ways,” he said smoothly. “You’re working late tonight, though aren’t you?”

Strange question, but Alex answered anyway. “Ah, yeah. I work better at night. Plus, these samples just arrived from Libreville…”

“Ah, Gabon,” the man said, smiling slightly. “The rate of sickle cell disease is rather high there…” he trailed off, looking distantly at the blood samples before nodding. “Well, your work will put an end to that.”

“That’s the hope,” Alex said, shrugging.

The man smiled, as if he knew something Alex didn’t. “That’s the reality,” he said cryptically.

Alex looked at him carefully, trying to remember if he had ever seen him before. “Are you from the foundation?” he asked after a moment. “You usually don’t check up on us this late.”

“Oh, no, no,” the man responded, looking surprised. “But I have studied your work, and I know what it will lead to.”

“My work?” Alex asked in surprise. “You mean the labs’. I’m really just a technician…”

The man nodded. “For now,” he agreed. “But someday…Someday you will help find the vaccine.”

Alex might as well would have not understood a word the man had said. “The vaccine?” he asked disbelievingly. “For what? Who are you…what-what do you want?”

The man took a step forward, turning Alex’s chair around.

“Your future.”

 

(-:-)

Phoebe practically sprinted through the halls of the hospital as she and Sam tried to track down the man they had seen in the hallway. Prue had run to the nearest nurse’s station to get Security, while Phoebe, Dean, and Sam had run off to try and him themselves.

Phoebe and Sam found themselves searching a seemingly deserted section of the hospital. There were very few doors open, and fewer lights on inside of them.

All the same, the man Phoebe had bumped into couldn’t have gotten far. He hadn’t walked to the stairs and they hadn’t heard the elevator. He had to be here somewhere.

They heard a scream.

Sam stopped still. “Phoebe!” he blurted before turning around, running back down a hall they had passed up a few moments earlier.

They rushed as fast as they could to the source, only to see a number of doctors exiting their doors, moving to gather around the office where the scream had come from, whispering to each other in concerned voices.

Inside, a man had fallen to the floor, sprawled haphazardly. When Phoebe and Sam managed to elbow their way into the arena, they gaped in horror at how his eyes were wide open. His gaze was blank and his mouth was open, stuck in the shape of a terrified screech.

The only injury they could see was hole in his forehead, scorched into the flesh and revealing a charred circle in his skull.

Phoebe choked down bile that rose into her throat and backed out, gasping to get a breath once she was out of the circle of lab coats.

Sam joined her moments later. He looked at the scene in front of him and quietly asked, “ _That’s_ what you saw in your premonition?” in complete disbelief.

Phoebe managed to shake her head, looking back at him, just as worried. “No…” she breathed. “But I think I saw the next one.”

 

(-:-)

Prue would have hoped that spending the night in her own bed for the first time in a month would leave her happy, refreshed.

Instead, all she felt was dread as she climbed out of bed and started to get ready for the day, thinking of all the drama that had caught up to them the night before. By itself, having to track down a monster was problem enough, but adding it on top of how she needed to tell Andy about her powers was enough to make a woman start drinking.

She eventually slunk down the stairs, unsurprised to see everyone sitting miserably in the kitchen. Piper was looking at Sam in distress as he told her the story of their adventure at the hospital, while Dean and Phoebe were staring at Prue’s laptop.

Prue looked to the coffee pot thankfully, hoping that caffeine would make her morning a little more bearable. “Is this leaded?”

It took a moment for Piper to realize that she was being spoken to, still distracted from the story Sam had just told her. “Ah…yeah…it always is,” she said, before looking back at Sam. “There was really a hole burned through his skull?”

Sam shrugged. “Yeah, basically.”

Piper shuddered, putting her head in her hands. “Great, all we need right now is another hunt…”

“If it helps, you probably don’t have to do anything,” Phoebe said. “Until we know what this thing is, Dean and I can cover the majority of the work. We already have a list of people that Dean wants to interview tonight.”

“Interviews?” Prue asked, sitting next to Sam.

Dean nodded. “Yup. Whatever kind of monster this is, he actually targeted that lab tech. If we figure out _why_ , then we might figure out what’s after him.” He shrugged a little, then looked back to his breakfast.

“I’m guessing that means you guys didn’t figure out what it was, then…” Prue sighed.

Phoebe shook her head. “There wasn’t anything in the book, and Dean’s never heard of anything like this,” she said, sounding a little worried. “We even called Bobby and he thought we were playing a joke on him.”

The idea that they had found a monster they didn’t have any knowledge on made Prue shudder, and she quietly looked at her breakfast. They all ate in silence for a few moments before Dean’s phone rang.

“Hello?” he muttered through a mouthful of cereal. He grimaced suddenly, and almost groaned as whoever on the phone kept talking. “Aw man, I completely forgot about that…”

Sam looked up at him, raising an eyebrow. “Forgot about what?”

Dean moved the receiver away from his mouth. “Leo and me were gonna work on the stairs…” he replied quickly, before pulling the phone back. “Something came up, so I won’t be able to be here…” He was quiet for a moment, and he looked over at Piper with a slight gleam in his eyes. “One of the girls? Yeah I think Piper might be here tonight. She can totally help you out.”

Across the table, Piper looked at him with wide eyes. “What?” she hissed. “No, no, no…stop…”

Her reaction obviously confused Dean, and he made a face. “Ah, actually, she’s kinda making faces at me…”

After he said it, Piper actually glared at him. She sighed angrily as she stood up to take her plate to the sink, getting concerned glances from her sisters and Sam.

“I guess we’ll have to move it then. Ah…I should be free tomorrow…” Dean paused and nodded. “Alright then, it’s a plan. Talk to you later.” He pulled the phone away from his ear, and looked at Piper like she had just turned down a free lottery ticket. “What the heck was that about?”

“Yeah, Piper,” Prue asked, wearing a look of incredulity similar to Dean’s. “You’ve been crushing on Leo for weeks. I would have thought that you would jump at the chance to hang out.”

Piper was still at the sink, looking a little downcast. “I probably would, but I found out last week that he has a girlfriend.”

The look of surprise that covered her family’s faces intensified. “He what?” Phoebe asked sharply.

A furrow formed between Dean’s eyebrows, and he squinted a little like he was trying to remember if Leo had ever talked about anyone before. “Since when?”

“I don’t know, I didn’t ask,” Piper mumbled, looking back up and shrugging. “All I know is that Leo isn’t available, and I’m not going to mess around with that. Now, can we focus back on the monster?”

Prue shook her head, and lifted her coffee cup to her mouth before saying, “Right. What’s this about interviews?”

“It’s one of the easiest ways to get information from people,” Sam supplied. “Dad usually pretends to be a cop or some government agent so that he can question people about crime scenes.”

“But because the police in this town know our names,” Dean cut in, looking pointedly at Prue, “that would be a really, really easy way to get arrested.”

Sam smirked. “Well, that and Dean has a baby face and doesn’t look old enough to pull off any sort of agent.”

A napkin ball was thrown across the table. “Shut up.”

“Anyway,” Phoebe said, rolling her eyes with a smile. “Because of that, we’re going to pretend we’re reporters for the university paper. We should be able to talk to a couple of lab techs and some of his friends before the end of the day.”

“How about figuring out who the girl in your visions is?” Prue asked.

“No luck there either,” Dean shrugged. “Phoebe didn’t get a great look at her, so there’s really no chance of tracking her down. We were also thinking about talking to Andy…”

Prue choked a little on her coffee. “What?” When she looked over at Phoebe and Dean, they looked guilty, as if they had been planning this.

“Well, you were saying that it was time to tell him, right?” Phoebe started. “And since he’s a cop and since we’re working the same case he is…”

“Maybe this would be the best way to break him in, you know?” Dean suggested. “It would just be like any other case…”

“But with monsters!”

The eldest Halliwell was looking at them like their heads had been screwed off. “You really think it’s a good idea to tell him magic exists _and_ that there are monsters out there on the same day?”

“Well that’s not quite how I would put it…”

Phoebe rolled her eyes, and cut Dean off. “Look at it like this, Prue. Give him a bad guy, and help him defeat the bad guy with your bad ass witch powers. He’s a cop. Saving people is his schtick, right?”

“You know what, maybe,” Prue said, causing Phoebe to brighten up slightly, until the expression on Prue’s face killed her optimism. “Except how does that help us if he decides to not suffer a witch to live?”

Phoebe frowned into her coffee cup. “If you don’t tell him, he’s going to figure out on his own,” she grumbled in response.

Prue just shook her head, and started to stand up before refilling her coffee cup. “And when I figure out how, I will, but it’s not going to be today,” she said shortly. “Now, Piper, tell me more about Leo’s girlfriend.”

 

(-:-)

 

Within the hour, they were out the door. Sam didn’t say much about Leo or Andy or the murders. By the time he had gotten to school and started his classes, he had mostly forgotten about them.

It was hard to focus on Prue’s problems when you had one of your own, after all.

His headache, as per usual, started the second he left the house, and steadily started getting worse as he went through the day. As of third period, his concentration had started to suffer from the pain. He was wondering if he could get away with sleeping it off during the middle of Ms. Porter’s lecture.

He’d pulled it off before, after all, so he wasn’t worried until his eyes started to droop and…

“Do you intend to answer the question Sam?”

Snapping upright, Sam tried not to wince while Ms. Porter glared at him.

“Um, I’m sorry, what did you ask?”

The teacher narrowed her eyes at him. Some of the students in the class giggled. Sam momentarily wished that one of his friends, Brady or Aviva, were around to give him some sympathy.

“I don’t tolerate sleeping in my class, you know that,” she started.

“I know, I know,” Sam responded apologetically. “I’m sorry, really. I’ve just got this headache and-“

“Excuses are not tolerated either.” The aging mathematics instructor shook her head. “This is the third time I’ve caught you dozing and it’s becoming tiresome. I want to see you immediately after school.”

“ _Excuses_?” Sam croaked. “It’s not-“

“Immediately, Sam!”

He opened his mouth to argue again, but at the risk of getting in more trouble, he buttoned his lip. He already had enough to deal with.

 

(-:-)

 

Prue pursed her lips as she looked at the computer in front of her, barely comprehending a word that she was reading. Even though it had been hours now, she still hadn’t been able to get her mind off of her problem with Andy.

To be honest, Dean and Phoebe’s idea made a lot of sense. Andy was a police officer, and it might be helpful to have him help them out when a monster was involved in a case. He had more access to evidence than they did, and having an inspector on their side could only be helpful. Showing him that they were good witches would solve some of the biggest problems that she had about telling him.

He had already worked cases where warlocks were involved, after all. He would understand that they really were helping people. Maybe it would also keep him safe if he knew about monsters, too.

But that didn’t eliminate the other problems that were glaring at her.

What if Andy took it badly?

She knew her boyfriend was a good guy, but he was also obligated to protect people. If he thought that she and her sisters were too dangerous, or if they were evil, or if he thought that she was insane, she could still expect that he might turn them in to someone, or maybe even take matters into his own hands.

Not a good thought, not even a reasonable thought, or even a probable explanation, but she had a family to protect. She needed to be sure.

Sighing slightly, she looked away from the screen and rubbed at her eyes, wondering what other options she had. She didn’t want to resort to magic, but maybe a spell could help. Maybe she would luck out and Andy already knew about the monsters.

A knock at the door rattled her out of her thoughts, and she glanced up to see a woman with short brown hair.

Tanya, one of the sandwich ladies that wandered the building, smiled at her concernedly. “You okay, Prue?”

Prue gave her a tight lipped smile. “Could be better.”

Tanya smiled sympathetically. “Is there any chance a sandwich help? I saved you your favorite,” she said, pulling a sandwich out of the blue cooler she carried with her. She held it out to Prue happily. “Turkey, no mayo.”

A grin pulled across Prue’s face, as she paid for the sandwich. “You’re a good woman, Tanya.”

 

(-:-)

 

“So we got nothing.”

Dean rolled his eyes, looking between Phoebe and the notes that they had in front of them. For a few minutes, he tried to figure out what he could say that proved her wrong, but in the end he sighed, and put his head in his hands.

“Yeah, pretty much.”

In their adventures that day, Dean and Phoebe learned a lot about Alex Peterson, the dead lab technician. He was a grad student at the university, and while he was an assistant to a genetics professor he had been doing research for his thesis on different genetic diseases. His roommate had gone ballistic when he heard Alex was dead, and his girlfriend was actually a little apathetic. The professor he worked for moaned in agony at the work involved in replacing the man.

None of them could think of anyone who would want to kill him.

Dean thought it was pretty frustrating. It just didn’t make any sense that a monster would take the trouble of navigating the hospital in order to kill someone random. He was positive that Alex had been targeted, he just had no idea by who yet.

And with no real leads, they wound up at a bar a few miles from campus.

Pulling her notebook back towards her, Phoebe bit her lip. “There has to be someone…” she muttered. “Maybe it had to do with what he was studying? Someone’s blood sample that they didn’t want looked at?”

Dean looked up at her, shaking his head. “If that’s the case, we’re pretty screwed. Cops already took all of his work…” He pulled his drink towards him and sipped at it morosely until the bartender wandered up. She was only a few years older than he was, and she was smoking hot, with short cut black hair and blue streaks running through it. He perked up considerably, and smiled at her as charmingly as he could.

“Can I get you anything?” she asked with a sultry smile on her face, looking pointedly at Dean.

He was about to open his mouth to flirt back, but Phoebe cut him off with an irritated sigh. “Not unless you know anything about Alex Peterson…” she grumbled.

She was oblivious to the annoyed look Dean shot her, but the waitress made a confused face. “He was one of the regulars, if that’s what you’re asking,” she said. “Why, is he in trouble?”

Both Phoebe and Dean perked up a little, wondering if she would have any information. “Um, not exactly,” Dean started. “He was killed last night, I’m sorry to tell you.”

The waitress looked stricken. “But…no! He was such a nice guy.”

“That’s what everyone’s been telling us,” Phoebe explained, sounding sad herself. “We’re with the school paper, writing a column about it. Could you tell us anything about him Miss…?”

“Hurley,” she responded instantly. “Rhonda Hurley. Oh my god, how did it happen…”

Dean made a face. “You probably don’t want to know,” he said slowly. “It wasn’t pretty.” When Rhonda gasped, he reached out a hand, and put it over hers comfortingly, reveling in the sad smile she shot back at him.

Phoebe nearly rolled her eyes. “I know this might be difficult, but can you tell us anything about Alex?” she repeated, drawing Rhonda’s attention back to her. “If there was anyone around here he had issues with or if he did anything…weird…?”

Rhonda made a face. “Why would you write that in a column about his death?”

“We just think eccentricities make a nice story,” Dean interjected. “They endear people. Make him so much more…” He struggled for a moment, and nearly winced when he came up with a word he really shouldn’t have used, but wound up saying, “real.”

It was apparently the right thing to say, because Rhonda looked at him with a smile on her face, nodding understandingly. “Oh, that makes sense,” she muttered, “But I don’t think I have anything for you. Like I say, Alex was great. He was a nice guy, everyone loved him. Super smart. Ya know.”

Phoebe drooped. “We know…” she muttered, pulling out her wallet. She pulled the money to pay for her drinks and started to stand. “Let’s go Dean…”

A startled expression appeared on Dean’s face, and he looked between Phoebe and Rhonda before settling on the bartender, and smiling. “Ah, actually I think I’ll stick around here for a bit longer,” he said.

There was a moment where Phoebe squinted, not understanding why Dean would want to do that, before it dawned on her, and her jaw clenched. “Seriously?” she sighed.

Dean grinned slightly, shrugging as though he couldn’t be helped before turning back to the bartender with a flirtatious smile on his face.

He paid no mind as Phoebe walked out of the bar, trying not to throw something at him.

 

(-:-)

 

Prue didn’t spend much time downstairs once she got home, instead going to the attic to see if there was any chance a spell could help her.

Magic wasn’t her first choice. Normally, she was loathe to use magic outside of life threatening situations. The only times she had ever used magic was when she was trying to save someone, or protect one of the others. The few times someone in their family had used magic willy-nilly, it had blown up in their faces, so she had no reason to believe it was a good idea.

For this, though, she was willing to risk it.

She loved Andy: she wanted him to know her secret…just without threatening her family.

It was a long task, though. After three hours of reading and ignoring all of Piper’s calls to dinner, she had already looked through the book more than once, and found nothing. If there was an obvious spell to help her, she couldn’t find it. But still, she looked again, wondering if she had just missed it.

That was when she saw the Truth Spell.

She had seen it earlier, but because of its name, she hadn’t thought it useful. Now though, looking more carefully, the description told her that it was exactly what she needed.

After reading through it several times, and taking a breath, she looked pointedly at the spell in front of her and was a little hesitant to start. One thought of Andy, though, one more day of lying to him made her push her shoulders back resolutely.

“ _For those who want the truth revealed, opened hearts and secrets unsealed, from now until it’s now again, after which the memory ends_.”

Vaguely, she felt the magic radiate from her as she spoke the words, and she could only hope that she wasn’t making a mistake.

“ _Those who now are in this house will hear the truth from others’ mouths._ ”

She waited a moment, letting out a long breath as she vaguely felt the magic settling around her then moved on to the next step by pulling her phone out of her pocket.

Nerves welled up in her stomach after selecting the number she wanted to dial, but she hit talk before she could think about them. She grit her teeth as the dial tone changed to a ring.

When the answering machine picked up, she couldn’t decide whether she was disappointed or relieved.

“Hi, you’ve reached Andy Truedau. Leave your name and number…”

She wasn’t sure what to do then, but once the predictable ‘beep’ came at the end, she haltingly started, “Andy…Andy hi, it’s Prue. I was wondering…”

She paused, wondering if she could just say it over the phone, or if it only worked in person. Sighing, slightly annoyed at her plight, she just started to babble. “I want to talk to you about something. It’s kind of important and…and I can’t really do it over the phone. Can you call me? Tomorrow of course, I mean…If you wanted to call tonight though it would be fine, but…still. Okay, bye…”

Replaying the words only made her want to smack herself in the face, but it was too late. The message was already on the machine, and she knew she had needed to do it anyway.

She walked back downstairs, hoping to find leftovers in the empty kitchen, and that the spell would be as straightforward as she needed it to be.

She should have read it more carefully.

 

(-:-)

 

Across town, though, a professor was walking through a parking garage. It was dark, and he didn’t realize that there was someone else in the garage until they spoke.

“Excuse me, are you Dr. Mitchell? Doctor Oliver Mitchell?”

The good doctor turned around in confusion, raised an eyebrow at the man standing next to his car and responded hesitantly, “Yes?”

The man speaking to Oliver stepped out of the shadows, revealing that he was a tall, balding man. He smiled at Oliver. “What a pleasure,” he laughed. I can’t tell you how long I’ve waited for this…”

Oliver gripped his keys more tightly, but turned towards the man speaking to him. “I’m sorry, but have we…”

“Met?” the man cut him off, laughing slightly. “I’m sorry, only in print. I’ve read your work. Your studies, specifically on cell degeneration are ahead of their time.”

Although he wanted to be kind about the compliment, Oliver just nodded tiredly. Whether this man was genuine or not didn’t matter at the moment. It was late, and he wanted to go home. He smiled slightly, but started to walk towards his car again. “You’re very kind…”

“No, really,” the man said, blocking him from continuing on. “It’s fascinating. You’ve become kind of a hobby of mine. I found your article on the mutant retina gene to be particularly intriguing.”

And wasn’t that creepy.

Oliver tried not to start shaking. “But…but I haven’t even…”

“Published it yet?” the man asked, cutting him off once again, backing him towards a corner. “Don’t worry. You will. And you will help to find a vaccine.”

“The vaccine?” Oliver stammered. “Against what?”

The man loomed over him, and this time, Oliver did start shaking as an enormous eye appeared on the man’s forehead, glowing a sinister red as a beam shot through it, hitting Oliver in the forehead.

“Against this.”

No one heard him over Oliver’s screaming.

 

(-:-)

 

As the residents of the Halliwell manor drifted into wakefulness, most of them were unaware of the change in the air. Piper got up to make breakfast as usual, and when Phoebe came in half an hour later, she was annoyed because of reasons completely unrelated to magic.

After all, she was no closer to saving the girl in her vision. The search the day before had been completely fruitless and Dean had then ditched her to get laid, which normally she wouldn’t have been so annoyed with. Today, though, there were innocents at stake and she really wished he was focusing on that instead of sex.

She didn’t say a word as she walked into the kitchen, sitting down at the table and feeling just as tired as she had the night before. Piper took pity on her and put a bowl full of oatmeal in front of her, along with a plate of biscuit and another full of fruit. “Any luck on the case last night?”

“Not at all…” she sighed, glancing up at her sister tiredly. “We didn’t have any luck with the interviews, and I still haven’t been able to find the girl in my vision. Would have been nice if Dean actually helped out too…”

Piper’s face scrunched together as she walked towards the stove top again, continuing to fill bowls for the others. “Where was he?”

“Probably between our bartenders legs…”

There was silence for a moment as they both processed the words, then a mild groan from the doorway. “Phoebe, I could have gone my entire life without thinking that…”

They both turned to see Sam trudging in, looking similarly tired, but not quite as ill as he had on other mornings.

“Er…yeah. I probably shouldn’t have said it that way,” Phoebe agreed, looking a little confused by her own words as well. “I’ll try to watch it next time…Hey, you weren’t home when we swung by the house last afternoon. What was up?”

The look on Sam’s face seemed to get even darker as he walked to the stove, picking up his bowl before continuing over to the table. “Detention.”

Phoebe sat up a little straighter in surprise. “Really? You?”

Nodding irritably, Sam took a seat. “Yup.”

“Why?”

“Crazy teacher likes to be mean.” Phoebe and Piper both looked over at Sam, still surprised. They had never heard him speak ill of a teacher before. In his sleepy haze, he didn’t seem to notice, though, so they shared a glance and continued on.

“That’s weird…” Piper muttered. “You normally don’t have any problems with teachers…”

None of them turned around as Prue walked in quietly, and as such, they didn’t notice how she looked at all of them as if checking to see if something had gone wrong. When everything seemed normal, she relaxed a little and walked over to the coffee pot. “Is this leaded?” she called over her shoulder.

“Nope.”

Prue’s eyebrows scrunched together, and she looked at Piper, who looked a little confused herself, like she hadn’t meant to say that.

“It’s not?” Prue asked.

“Never has been,” Piper responded, her face starting to contort as she realized that something was wrong. “I just say it is because it’s ridiculous to make two pots of coffee when you’re the only one who drinks diesel.”

Sam started to look confused as well, especially as he realized that Piper and Phoebe weren’t controlling their mouths entirely, and that a slightly guilty, expression had come over Prue’s face. “Okay, something weird is going on…”

As he spoke, Prue started to move towards the door. She was about to say that she had to leave when Piper and Phoebe’s eyes landed on her as well. Both of them looked dubious, but they knew their sister better than that.

“Prue…” Phoebe started.

The eldest sister stopped in her tracks, and slowly turned around, wincing slightly.

Piper’s eyes widened. “Oh my god, did you do something? You-I mean, you of all people actually…”

“You don’t even know what I did…” Prue mumbled, only for Phoebe to gasp.

“You did!”

“But what…why? What did you do?!” Piper blurted, jumping out of her seat and starting across the room. She was shortly followed by Sam and Phoebe, who looked equal parts surprised and confused at this development.

“I cast a truth spell,” Prue grumbled unwillingly.

“A what?” Sam asked, raising an eyebrow. “Like, we can’t lie or…”

Piper cut him off, looking frustrated. “Why? Why would you do that?”

Looking a bit more confident with this question, Prue straightened up. “Because I wanted to know what Andy would think of me if he knew I was a witch, okay! The spell…”

“You couldn’t do that like a normal person?”

“If you’d let me talk, then you would know,” Prue blurted. She looked around at the others, daring them to interrupt her before letting out a breath. “Okay, look, the spell is on a time limit. Twenty four hours where if you ask someone a question, or if someone asks you a question, you have to tell the truth. Good news: no one but us will remember at the end. Bad news: I didn’t realize that it meant all of you would get whammied too.”

She tried to give them a regretful smile, but Sam and Piper both just looked unimpressed. Phoebe looked like she was about to start laughing at the situation her older sister had gotten herself in, which only made Prue feel worse.

“And there’s no chance this can be undone, like now?” Sam croaked. “I have to be at school in an hour, and I’m not getting detention for telling the truth.”

“Since when has that ever been an option?” Piper sighed. “Is there at least a way around telling the truth? Like, a white lie or something?”

A Cheshire grin appeared on Phoebe’s face. “Well why don’t we try it?” she said brightly, making everyone look at her desperately. “Prue what-“

Before she could finish, they heard the front door creak open, and everyone straightened up. Whoever it was didn’t say hello, or announce that they had arrived, and that put them all on edge.

Without a word, they all silently slunk to the hallway, and looked around the corner.

Relief flooded them when they saw it was only Dean.

“There you are!” Phoebe blurted, a hint of irritation in her voice. “Were you out with that bartender all night?!”

The eldest of the brother’s looked over at them like a deer caught in the headlights. He was wearing the same clothes as yesterday, so it was obvious that he _had_ been out all night, and there were dark marks along his neck. He looked terrified seeing them, and it only got a little worse when his mouth started to say no, and instead he blurted the word, “Yes.”

Phoebe rolled her eyes and stormed towards him. “We have a case, Dean! Sleazy bartenders can wait!”

The others followed behind shortly. Piper was rolling her eyes. “Calm down, Phoebe,” she sighed. “It’s not like this is anything new…”

“Except, you know, the sneaking in part,” Prue chimed in, looking at Dean with narrow eyes. “And really, what’s with the tiptoeing act?”

Dean responded, “I’m wearing girl’s underwear.”

His eyes went wide, a pained expression on his face after it was out of his mouth, and everyone else felt their jaws drop.

Phoebe just stared at him for a long moment, trying to figure out what to say before blurting. “What? Why-why would you…?”

“The bartender thought it would be cute and I didn’t have time to change before her roommate came in-and what the hell is going on? Why am I telling you this?”

Prue took a few steps back, putting her head in her hands. “Truth spell…” she grumbled to herself. “Oh my god, that is something I _never_ wanted to hear.”

“We have got to undo this right now!” Piper blurted. “This is so, so, so, so bad…”

Phoebe was still looking at Dean, her face torn between fascination and disgust. “Ah…I’m actually…” she trailed off. “What color are they?”

Again, Dean had no choice before he responded, “Pink.” Immediately, he retched. “God damn it Phoebe!”

Phoebe actually kind of laughed. “Serves you right for bailing on me!”

Sam rolled his eyes and looked over at his cousin. “Phoebe, do you _not_ get how awful this is?!”

“I’m actually kind of digging it,” she said brightly. “Think of what we can do with this.”

“Think of what we could tell other people!” Piper hissed. “What if someone asks me if I have any secrets?! What if my boss asks why I run off all the time? Or who blew up the restaurant last month?!” As she spoke, she started talking faster and faster, eventually looking panicked enough that Phoebe had to tell her to breathe.

Prue looked apologetic. “Guys, I’m sorry,” she said, “I just wanted to see how Andy would react.”

“Well it’s a hell of a way to come out of the broom closet!” Dean told her snappishly, immediately regretting it at the guilty look that went across her face afterwards. He sighed. “Okay, we gotta buckle down for the day. Everyone calls in sick and _no one_ leaves the house until it wears off. When’s that gonna be?”

“Eight,” Phoebe answered quickly. “But Dean, what about that girl?”

“I don’t know,” he muttered. “I mean, I could keep on the case, maybe? I wasn’t here when the spell was cast, so I guess I’m not affected?”

“Only when you’re talking to us,” Prue confirmed. “But I can’t stay here, Dean. I have work, and I _have_ to talk to Andy.”

“Then get him to come here!” Dean said quickly. “But absolutely no one, I repeat, no one else should be coming or going for the rest of the day.”

The five of them all looked around at each other, and after a moment, they all seemed to come to a nonverbal agreement.

Then the doorbell rang.

Everyone snapped to attention, and turned to the door nervously.

Dean swore. “Leo…” he muttered, remembering his plans for the day. “We were gonna work on the stairs today.

Piper’s eyes went wide. “What?” she choked. “Oh god- I have to get out of here…”

“Everyone out,” Prue blurted, herding them to the garage. “Come on, come on, come on…”

And that’s all it took for the avoidance plan to fall apart.

 

(-:-)

 

Walking through the hallway at school that day, Sam felt like he was carrying a live grenade.

It wasn’t the first time he had felt like that, of course. His freshman year, he had broken his leg over the summer on a Wendigo hunt, and had done everything he could to keep people from asking how it had happened. Regardless of how good his cover story was, though, it always felt like people could tell he was hiding something. Once he had gotten his powers, it was more of the same: lying to keep a secret because it meant keeping people safe.

So, of course, the spell he was under made him anxious as hell.

More than anything he wished they had thought far ahead to make a real plan, to have called in sick, or at least agreed that as soon as Leo left the manor, they would all go back home. Instead, he was stuck in a crowd full of people at all times, trying to keep any and all attention away from him.

The good news was that his friends didn’t push. When he told them that morning that he didn’t feel like talking. They just presumed that he was having another headache, and made the obligatory comments that he should go to the nurse’s office before continuing on with their days. His teachers didn’t call on him much either, but thankfully when they did, it all had to do with class, instead of anything personal.

As the clock twitched closer to lunch, he felt a little hope well up in his chest. If he could just get a few minutes away from class, he could go to the office and call Prue, beg her to come and get him so that he didn’t feel the weight of the spell on his shoulders.

But first, he had to get through math class again.

When he walked into Ms. Porter’s classroom, he avoided looking at her, instead focusing on the blank page of his notepad. She stood up when the bell rang, and he had started to think maybe he could get through the class.

Then she stopped by his desk, and very loudly asked. “Did your detention convince you to follow the rules today, Sam?”

“No, not really.”

The words were out of his mouth before he could say anything, and he inwardly cursed.

He glanced up at her, trying to be apologetic as Ms. Porter glared at him.

“Not really?” she echoed.

“Ah…well no. I mean…” he stumbled to find the words, trying to dig himself out of the hole. “I should follow the rules for the sake of following the rules, not because of…ah …Authoritarian punishment…” He trailed off questioningly.

There was no chance.

Ms. Porter glared down at him. “Another detention for the sarcasm, Sam.”

Sam deflated, and forced an apology. “Ms. Porter, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to say that…”

“Actually, let’s make it a full week…”

Sam stopped, and he felt his jaw drop before blurting. “What did I do to deserve a week?!”

Ms. Porter rolled her eyes, and looked at him sternly, about to say something authoritative when the spell overtook her mouth instead. “Oh, absolutely nothing. I just don’t like you.”

The other students in the room all gasped. A few of the boys laughed, and started to egg on a fight, while the quieter kids looked scandalized at the thought. Though she looked confused at her words, Ms. Porter ignored the thought to focus on her rowdy students, telling them that their behavior was inappropriate.

In the meantime, Sam clenched his jaw. “What?” he hissed. “You’re giving me a week’s worth of detention because you don’t like me?”

Ms. Porter looked back at him. “Yes, basically,” she answered. The moment she realized what she had said, she started to backpedal, but Sam cut her off before she could manage it.

“You can’t be serious,” he growled. “You’re supposed to be a teacher and you’re going to do something that stupidly-“

“Sit down, Mr. Halliwell…”

“-petty? Who do you think you are?”

The other students were stuck between shock and amazement at what was going on in front of them. Many of them were whispering to each other excitedly, but neither Sam or their teacher paid attention as Ms. Porter sneered at him, trying to command the authority she knew she had lost over Sam.

“I am your teacher, and I have the authority to do whatever I want,” Ms. Porter spat back. “Now either take your seat or I will send you to the principal’s office.”

“And tell them what? That you gave me detention because you have a personal problem with me?” Sam growled. “How about no?”

“You are crossing a line…”

“I don’t care,” Sam growled. “I have about fifteen other problems right now, all of which outrank you. You want to keep being crazy, you do that. But I’m done with it. What do you think about that?”

The truth spell didn’t even have to work on his teacher for him to know the answer to that.

The look in her eyes was answer enough.

 

(-:-)

 

Oblivious to her cousin’s plight, Prue sat fidgeting in her office at Buckland’s.

So far, she had gotten through the day with few problems. No one at Buckland’s had asked her any questions and her schedule was thankfully devoid of any appointments or meetings. This of course meant that she could lock herself in her office, avoiding any and all people.

Unfortunately, it also meant that she couldn’t avoid worrying about Andy.

Would he call?

Was the murder investigation taking up too much of his time?

Hell. Had he even heard her message yet?

Her phone rang, startling her out of her thoughts.

Did the spell work through the phone?

Hesitating, she reached out to pick up the receiver. “Hello?” she asked, before remembering she was at work, and adding, “I mean, Prue Halliwell?”

“Hey it’s me.”

Andy’s voice did nothing to help her nerves.

Prue let out a breath. “Andy. Hi…”

“I got your message,” Andy said. “Sorry it took me this long. We’ve been swamped today.”

“I know. The murders have been on the news.”

“They were pretty brutal,” Andy said darkly. “Anyway, what’s up? You sounded like it was urgent.”

For a couple seconds, Prue closed her eyes. “Yeah, I just…I wanted to talk to you about something, but can we meet? I really don’t want to talk about this over the phone.”

“Yeah, sure,” Andy replied, a concerned tilt to his voice. “Is everything okay?”

“Fine, just tired,” Prue said. “Would you be able to come to my office around…now?”

“I want to, but we really need to solve this case,” Andy grumbled regrettably. “Would five work? I’m supposed to be interviewing a witness over there about then.”

Prue let out a breath. Five would be cutting it a little close. Three hours wouldn’t be much time for Andy to process the fact that she was a witch. “I don’t know if it can wait that long,” she replied. “Maybe I can meet you at the station in a few minutes? I’ll keep it quick.”

“I guess that’ll work,” Andy answered, still sounding worried. He paused, getting distracted by something on the other end of the line. “I gotta go. Love you.”

“You too,” Prue said, smiling a bit before hanging up the phone.

She took a few moments to wallow in her anxiety before standing up. It was almost lunch time, and she needed to get down to the precinct.

She grabbed her purse and started to leave the building, but before she even got out of the office she was blocked off. Apparently, the soda Alan bought from Tanya had blown up, fizzed all over the place, and was a group effort to clean up. Alan was blaming Laurie, who was just laughing at his coworker’s damp shirt.

Tanya laughed as Prue walked up, turning her head to look into Laurie’s office. “Guess this prank made a bigger mess than it should’ve, Laurie,” she joked.

The man in question rolled his eyes, still smirking. “Everyone always blames me,” he mock groaned. “It could be anyone in this building, and you blame _me_ …”

“That might be because you’re constantly disrupting other people’s work with your infernal jokes, Mr. Hiddleston.”

The teasing look on everyone’s face disappeared as they looked around and saw that Hannah had walked up. She was looking no-nonsense as always, and was glaring at them all.

Laurie’s eyes narrowed at her. “Doesn’t mean it was me,” he growled at her, dropping his voice to a whisper to add, “Prejudiced bitch…”

Hannah just rolled her eyes and tiptoed past Prue and through the soda swamp to get to Tanya’s cooler. She smiled nastily as she pulled out one of the sandwiches. “Oh, look. Last turkey, no mayo. My favorite…”

Prue grit her teeth at Hannah’s words, knowing that that was _her_ sandwich.

“Actually,” Tanya spoke up nervously. “I was saving that for Prue…”

Hannah wrinkled her nose at Tanya. “Yeah, you _were_ ,” she said, pulling out the money for the sandwich.

Prue crossed her arms, despite the fact that she wasn’t planning on buying the sandwich anyway. “Don’t you hate Turkey?” she asked testily.

“Of course I do, I just don’t want you to have it.” The words were out of Hannah’s mouth before she realized it, and once they were, her eyes went wide with confusion.

It only made Prue angrier. Tanya and Alan looked shocked she had said that. Hannah turned back to Prue, attempting to stammer an insincere apology. Prue cut her off, abruptly asking, “Is there any particular reason why you’re such a bitch to everyone?”

“Well it’s not like these pathetic mortals are worthy of any respect,” Hannah began, catching what she was saying before they were out of her mouth. She looked panicked half way through. “I should have killed Laurie when I had the chance and it’s my mission in life to destroy you.”

Her eyes were wide at the end, and she immediately covered her mouth with her hand. Tanya and Alan looked completely flabbergasted, like they didn’t want to be there, while Laurie’s expression turned decidedly venomous.

Realizing how she had just used her powers, Prue started to panic.

“You should have _what_?” Laurie asked darkly.

“She couldn’t have really meant that,” Prue intercepted. “She isn’t worth getting mad about, right?”

“Wrong,” Laurie answered, his voice sounding matter-of-fact, “although getting even would be more fun…” At that, he looked over at Prue, eyes sharp.

She could almost see it on Laurie’s face that he _knew_ , but she was saved when Rex appeared nearby, looking nervously between the warring coworkers.

“Well, isn’t this exciting,” he said, downplaying the argument. “Nothing like a bit of interoffice rivalry to get those competitive juices flowing.”

Prue looked over at him gratefully, and quickly passed them all to get out of the office before something else happened. Tanya and Alan chose to make themselves scarce.

Once they were gone, Rex’s expression grew just a little more serious. He looked between Laurie and Hannah before saying, “Could I have a word with the two of you?”

 

(-:-)

 

Rex closed the door to his office with a loud slam before looking back at the two beings he had brought into his office. Laurie and Hannah were glaring at each other sharply, and it was obvious by the expression on Hannah’s that she was mere seconds away from clawing off her coworker's face.

Laurie was harder to read. Since they had met the other being, he always seemed entirely unimpressed with the two of them. He laughed when they threatened them, and pulled pranks while they we're trying to plan. Even now, if not for the fact that his eyes were practically aflame with rage, Rex would've thought he looked bored.

Their fight was not one of Rex's problems, though. "What the hell just happened?" He growled at them.

It took a moment, but both Hannah and Laurie stopped glaring long enough to glance at him as he grit his teeth and stepped towards them angrily.

"You two nearly exposed us all," Rex continued. "What in hell's name could have inspired you to be so careless?!"

Hannah bowed her head submissively. "I'm sorry," his subordinate told him. "It just came out. I don't..."

"Oh please..."

The two of then snapped their heads up only to see that Laurie was rolling his eyes. Rex started to snarl at him for his insolence, but Laurie was hardly intimidated as he folded his arms over his chest and leant back against one of Rex's leather chairs. "Haven't either of you twits ever seen a spell before?" He asked dully. "Did you not notice that when the only witch in the office asked a question, we just _had_ to answer? Come on, it's not that difficult."

Hannah's teeth gnashed together. "Just what we needed, more of their bumbling spell work," she grumbled.

"We're going to have to be more careful around her," Rex grumbled. "I don't think she'll suspect us after this, but if it happens again, we could be in trouble."

"Can you two really not handle dealing with beginner’s magic?" Laurie snorted. "Geez, I knew you two were young, but-"

For a few moments, Rex clenched his jaw, trying to keep his tone even, not rising to the bait. "Will you shut up for two seconds?" He hissed, turning to him and glaring slightly.

Laurie winked, smirking mockingly. "Why don't you make me?"

Rex snarled. "Listen to me, you arrogant speck. We tolerate your antics, but keep testing me and you'll be lucky if-"

"Oh, I'll be lucky if you what?" Laurie snorted.

He pulled himself off of the couch, stepping over to Rex and looking him square in the eye, never dropping the smirk from his face. Despite the fact that he was several inches shorter than the other man, he still managed to express just how old he was and how dangerous he could be if he were in the wrong mood. "I did what you asked and quieted down my act, but your business in this town is not my problem, and you are hardly my superior." He smiled nastily, taking a second to glance at Hannah. "Keep testing _me_. Then you'll see something worth getting upset about."

Without waiting to hear what they were planning to do about Prue he walked towards the door, snapping his fingers to summon a candy bar before he opened the door and walked back into the main office.

Rex rolled his eyes, and turned back to Hannah, irritated with the display. His first agenda when their work was done was to show the other being just how much damage he could do. But right now, he couldn't afford the mess.

Hannah sniffed derisively as the door closed. "I hate pagans," she growled. "They're so arrogant..."

With an agreeing nod, Rex stood up straight again, glancing at her. "We'll deal with him later," he promised. "In the mean time, we can't afford Prue becoming suspicious of us. You should avoid her until we know that her spell has worn off."

"I'll try to stay civil when I can't avoid it," she assured him, nodding slinky as he walked towards the door.

As she left, Rex shook his head, and pulled a cigar out of his desk. He walked towards the window, pondering the continued adventures of the Halliwells and their magical blunders. Even if the last mistake had gotten him close to Sam, every time the Halliwells advanced their knowledge of magic, it made his job more dangerous. His original plan was moving too slow, and was becoming too risky.

Without thinking, he capped his hand over the tip of the cigar, and a flick of his wrist made it start smoking. He put it to his mouth.

Yes, it was time to move to the next part of his plan, whether he was happy about it or not.

 

(-:-)

 

It was a little after noon when Piper slipped through the doors of Sam’s high school, avoiding as many people as possible on her way to the principal’s office.

After the secretary waved her through to the stark room, she glanced at the other waiting chair where Sam was sitting, and couldn’t help the pained expression that appeared on her face.

It wasn’t that she hadn’t expected this call. With the spell in effect something was sure to go wrong, after all. She just hadn’t expected it from Sam. Even though he talked back sometimes at home, he was a model student. The fact that he had actually had a screaming match with a teacher was staggering.

Sam hardly seemed to register her presence as she walked inside. Instead, he was entirely consumed by glaring across the room at Ms. Porter, who was looking back at him with no sort of fondness.

The principal looked apologetic. “Thank you for coming in, Ms. Halliwell. I hope we haven’t gotten you at a bad time.”

Piper gave him a thin smile. “No, not at all,” she answered. “It was probably for the best actually.”

It wasn’t a lie, at least. After leaving the house (and dropping Phoebe off at the library, where she would keep her mouth shut), she had gone to work. The restaurant had been swamped, just as it had been for days now, but her boss had been blessedly absent. After hiding from sight for most of the morning, the call from Sam’s school had given her the perfect excuse to bolt for the day.

“Now, I was told that Sam is having a problem with a teacher.”

Sam snorted. “She’s the one with a problem.”

“Well yes, of course I have a problem with students like you!” Ms. Porter hissed back. “I’m afraid your ward is the least respectful student I have ever encountered.”

Piper raised her eyebrows dubiously, and was happy to see that the Principal had a similar look on his own face.

“Ma’am, I don’t see how that’s possible,” she responded levelly. “Sam has never had any discipline problems before. Most of his teachers have told us he’s a pleasure to have in class, and he made straight A’s on his last progress report…”

“That means very little in this case, Miss Halliwell. Almost since the semester started, he’s practically asleep in all of my lectures. I suspect he’s been cheating the entire time.”

Sam practically snorted, glaring at the teacher as everyone looked around to him. “Are you sure it’s not just that whale sized vendetta you have against me for whatever crazy reason? Because as I remember it, you just told the entire class that you gave me detention because you _didn’t like me_. Didn’t you?”

Piper’s eyes widened when she felt the magic come off of him, and while she expected to look over and see him looking at least regretful, there was nothing of the sort on his face. Sam looked angry, and he knew exactly what he was doing.

“Yes I did,” Ms. Porter admitted angrily. “And considering the smug, irresponsible, downright delinquent…”

The principal looked at her sharply. “That’s enough,” he said sharply, before looking back at Piper. “Ms. Halliwell, I’m still not entirely sure what happened but-“

“What happened is pretty obvious,” interrupted Sam. “This bitch-“

“Sam!”

“-doesn’t like me and she’s willing to abuse her authority to-“

“I will have you expelled!” Ms. Porter shouted.

“You’re yelling at me in front of the principal when I didn’t do anything!” Sam shouted back. “Yes, I fell asleep in your class because of a headache, which oh yeah, wasn’t a lie, and now you’re making it your mission to make my life even harder than it is!”

Piper put a hand on Sam’s shoulder before he could stand up and yell in her face. “Sam, I think you need to…”

“Yes, because the life of a student as smart as yourself must be so difficult! Do you have any idea what-“

The principal did stand up, bodily holding back Ms. Porter before she could throw something. “Ms. Halliwell, I think it would be best if you and Sam left for the day.

“No, let her talk…” Sam growled, ready to keep fighting, while Piper stood up, and grabbed the back of Sam’s collar.

“That sounds perfect, thank you.” She said quickly, pulling Sam out before it got any worse.

 

(-:-)

 

The atmosphere of the police station was tense and frenzied when Prue walked inside at a quarter after noon. Everyone was either completely focused on their own task or talking in hushed tones to another officer, wondering out loud about the case.

Seeing everyone so serious made a tendril of guilt sprout in Prue’s gut. There were so many people searching for any clue they could, trying their damnedest to catch a criminal before there was another victim. Even though she knew she was doing the same thing, and even though she knew that she was protecting herself, she was still withholding information. What if telling them what she knew helped the police catch the guy? Would it help at all?

Before she could dwell on it too much, though, a voice called her out of it, and she managed a shaky smile when Andy walked up.

“Wow, you got here quick,” he said, moving to give her a hug.

She wrapped her arms tightly around him, and took the moment to get her bearings. “Hey, Andy,” she breathed.

He pulled away, and somehow managed to drown out the solemnity of the precinct with the smile he gave her. “Come on, I’ve got somewhere quiet we can talk,” he said, before starting to tug her towards a door nearby.

She was happy for the privacy right up until he opened the door to an interrogation room.

Nerves started bubbling up in her stomach at that moment, and she looked at him quickly, wondering what was going on. Andy didn’t seem to notice, walking in ahead of her, and drawing the blinds that lined the room.

“I know it’s not really a great place, but the rest of the station is buzzing right now…”

Even knowing that there wasn’t any actual interrogation planned with the room, it still made her feel uneasy as she walked inside and stood next to the table. Andy finished drawing the blinds, and stood across from her. Now that they were alone, he looked a little nervous too.

He licked his lips and asked, “Should I be worried about this?”

Prue pursed her lips, and couldn’t lie. “I don’t know,” she admitted. “It’s…it’s complicated, and before I get into it, just promise you won’t yell or anything-“

Andy’s eyes widened. “Prue, you know I wouldn’t…”

Prue put up her hands, quieting him. “I know, I know. I just…” She let out another nervous breath and started. “I don’t actually know how to say this, so I’m just going to show you, okay?”

She waited a second for affirmation from Andy, but when none came, she took a step back, and noticed the chair in front of her.

“Watch…”

Gently, she put one of her hands up, and with a slight wave, pushed it away from the table. She didn’t breathe before looking up at Andy with a worried expression.

Despite all of his training as a cop, Andy had literally jumped back when the chair pulled out. He was blinking quickly, and his eyes were wide as he tried to figure out what she had just done. “What the hell was that?” he asked.

Prue winced. “That’s my secret. I did that with my mind,” she admitted slowly.

Hearing the wobble in her voice seemed to pull Andy back, and while he didn’t calm down all the way, he did his best to straighten up. “Oh, um…okay so…” He bumbled over the words before asking. “You’re telekinetic?”

“Yes,” Prue answered automatically, before backtracking. “Actually, it’s a little more than that. Truth is: I’m a witch.”

He just stared at her disbelievingly this time. “A what?”

“A witch, a good witch, though I swear,” she said quickly. “I have these powers, as in more than just the telekinesis, but I only found out about them a few months ago…” She sighed a little, and fell into the chair she had pulled out. “Right about the time we met up again actually. It’s made my life so weird, and I wanted to tell you before now, really, but I couldn’t…”

Slowly, Andy leaned forward onto the chair in front of him, and after wracking his brain for other things to ask, he asked, “Why couldn’t you?”

Prue took a second to think of her answer before looking up. “My family,” she said. “They have powers too, and we didn’t know how you would react. Telling people about magic is how you get a witch burning.” She shrugged a little. “If it were just me, I would have told you sooner but…I couldn’t risk getting them hurt.”

Andy nodded slowly as they drifted into silence.

After a few moments without an answer, Prue coughed. “So…what do you think?”

“I…I don’t know,” he admitted. “Of all the things I thought you were worried about, this was…nowhere on the list.” He paused, but after a second he did look up. “If it helps, though, I get why you didn’t want to tell me.”

His tone didn’t encourage her, and she looked down.

“Is it something you can change?” he asked.

This made Prue frown. “No,” she said shortly. “I can’t change who I am. That’s something I’ve had to accept. My question is, can you?”

Andy opened his mouth, but then closed it, and took a moment to shake his head. “I don’t know, to be honest…” he said. “This is something I don’t know anything about. I’d be lying if I said it didn’t freak me out a little…”

Prue pursed her lips, but nodded. He wasn’t running away, and that was better than she had hoped for. “In that case, I need to tell you about something else, too…”

And then she started talking about the murders.

 

(-:-)

 

The manor was quiet.

Not too quiet, of course. Dean and Leo had been working on refinishing the stair-railing all morning, and between the two of them, jokes were made as always. But with the spell undeniably making Dean worry about the girls, and he hadn’t spoken much that morning. They had fallen into companionable silence.

That was why it stood out so much when the door slammed open, and Sam trudged in.

“It wasn’t my fault!”

Both Leo and Dean looked up in surprise, and in Dean’s case, a mild amount of panic, as Piper followed behind her cousin. “I’m not saying it was your fault. I’m saying you shouldn’t have done that!”

Sam wheeled on Piper. “What was I supposed to do?!” he blurted.

“You are supposed to be responsible with your powers!” she responded seriously, before looking up, and seeing that they had company. With wide eyes, she back tracked. “Uh…of de…duction? Powers of deduction. Yes. You shouldn’t use those against teachers.”

Sam raised an eyebrow, and shot a look over his shoulder before rolling his eyes.

Putting down his paintbrush, Dean stood up and walked down the stairs, Leo following close behind. “What’s going on?”

“Sam got in a fight,” Piper responded tensely, trying not to look at Leo. “With a teacher.”

Dean’s eyebrows shot up, and he grinned. “Really?” he blurted. “Waita go Sammy!”

He tried to clap Sam on the shoulder, but his little brother pulled out of his grip quickly. “Shut up…” he grumbled.

They watched him walk away angrily, and Piper’s eyes drifted to the ceiling tensely.

“That’s weird,” Leo muttered. “Sam doesn’t seem like the kind of kid to get into fights…”

“You wouldn’t think so,” Dean muttered. “That broad must’ve done something serious to make him this upset…” Without another word, he walked after Sam, leaving Piper alone with Leo.

They were both quiet for a few moments, and whether she meant to or not, Piper avoided looking over at him. Piper wasn’t comfortable with her crush on him now that she knew he had a girlfriend, but it was far worse with the truth spell in affect. She didn’t know what he could possibly ask that would make her admit to anything, but risking it made her skin go clammy and her heart rate speed up.

He brushed a little closer to her, muttering. “He seems really upset,” Leo muttered. “I’ve never heard him yell before…Are you okay?”

“Not really.”

The words were out of Piper’s mouth before she could stop them, and she wanted to swear when she looked up and saw how concerned Leo was. She took a second, swallowing back her nerves to try and find something plausible to say. “Just…it’s been a hard day.”

“Ah, I get it,” Leo responded, smiling sympathetically. “It’s alright. It’ll work out. You all actually seem a little off today, to tell you the truth.”

She wished she could laugh at his wording. “You have no idea…”

 

(-:-)

 

Walking down the sidewalk towards Buckland’s, Andy had a serious look on his face. Prue walked quietly behind him, watching closely for any signs that he was having second thoughts.

After learning that a demon was behind the murders he was investigating, he seemed to actually forget about Prue telling him her secret. Immediately he had focused on the case, trying to figure out what the Halliwells knew that could help him. His focus was admirable, but it wasn’t helping Prue figure out how he felt about her powers at all.

Even so, she wasn’t going to bring it up where everyone in San Francisco could overhear.

“Out of everything I thought was going on with you, this was nowhere on the list.”

Andy glanced at her, a slanted smile on his face, amused at the shock. Prue wished she could smile back, but instead, she pursed her lips, and looked forward.

The smile on Andy’s face fell. “I mean, don’t get me wrong,” he back tracked quickly. “I don’t know anything about it, so I can’t say it’s amazing, or great, or even bad…it’s…it’s just not something you would expect in a million years…”

At that, Prue let out a tiny snort. “Imagine living it,” she said to him, glancing over his shoulder. “I can’t really say if it’s been great or bad either. There’s actually been a lot of bad, too, but…” she paused, moving her hands in front of her, and then back. “There’s also good, you know?” Glancing up at him, she saw that he had started to smile again, and she couldn’t help but return it. They slowed slightly as they came up to the doors of the office building.

“Not really, but it obviously means a lot to you,” he said, leaning down slightly, brushing a hand over her cheek. “And if what you told me is true, it’s also going to help save lives.”

The sentence should have completely killed the romance in that moment, but it didn’t. Instead, Prue’s smile only broadened as Andy pulled open the glass door, and they both shuffled in.

After weaving through the crowd of office workers, Prue craned her neck, and quickly spotted what she was looking for amongst the masses.

“There’s Phoebe,” she said to Andy, waving him towards the lounge chair her sister was sitting in.

After giving Andy a brief overview of their lives as magical crime fighters had gotten mixed reviews. Knowing that magic had been involved on a number of his now unsolved cases had made Andy a little frustrated. Hearing about how her uncle hunted monsters professionally made him ask if she was serious, but he had immediately forgotten about it once he heard Phoebe had seen the girl who was going to be attacked next. Knowing that she had to be back at work soon made her realize that getting him to meet with Phoebe would work the best, and she had immediately called her sister.

As they walked over, Phoebe looked up and smiled, waving Prue and Andy into the chairs across from her.

“We told you putting him on the case would help,” she said brightly.

Prue looked at her seriously. “Save the gloating till we’re at home,” she told her sister shortly. “We’ve got work to do, and I have to be upstairs in ten minutes.”

Nearly rolling her eyes, Phoebe looked over at Andy. “I bet she doesn’t harass you like this,” she sighed, as she straightened up. “Alright, so let’s hear it Inspector Trudeau. What do you know about the case?”

Without pause, Andy responded, the truth spell latching on to the direct question and running with it. “Lead detective knows there have been two murders now, each of them had the same cauterized mark on their forehead…” The words were out of Andy’s mouth so fast that he looked shocked to hear them. The way his eyes widened mirrored Prue’s, who hadn’t realized he had been being completely honest the entire afternoon, without the truth spell making him do anything. “Their eyes were also completely drained of color, completely white. What the…”

Phoebe’s eyes narrowed a little. “What do you mean, what?”

“I mean what the heck just happened?” Andy grumbled. “Why did I just run at the mouth like that?”

Phoebe raised an eyebrow, glancing over at Prue, and asking, “Is he not supposed to know?”

Prue shook her head slightly. “I just haven’t told him…”

“Haven’t told me what?” Andy asked seriously, looking over at his girlfriend, who uncomfortably looked back at him.

“Ah, I did something that makes people tell the truth when asked a question,” she responded, trying not to look guilty. “I’ll explain more later, but can we focus on the case right now?”

“Why would you need to….”

“Ahp, ahp, ahp,” Phoebe interrupted. “Couples talk later, case first. What was the cause of death?”

“Unknown,” Andy responded immediately. After it was out of his mouth, he looked over at her with a slight glare. “Can you not do that?”

“If you’ll tell me what you know,” Phoebe responded with an impish smile.

Andy rolled his eyes. “We thought they had been shot,” he added. “But there’s no exit wound and no bullet. Most of the guys think it might be a highly specialized laser.”

“No suspects?”

“No. But we found a button at the crime scene. It isn’t much, but it’s made of an alloy that forensics has never seen before. Something that distinct could lead us to someone.”

Phoebe pursed her lips, and leaned back in her chair. “That isn’t much,” she responded.

“No, but we still might be able to help,” Prue said. “Is there any chance Phoebe could get her hands on that button? Objects can sometimes trigger a vision.”

“Maybe,” Andy replied, shrugging slightly. “Forensics is still looking at it, though. It’d be tough.” Their faces all fell, and Andy’s mouth twitched pensively. “What about you? Prue said you saw who the next victim would be. Maybe I can help with that. What does she look like?”

Phoebe frowned a little. “Too average to really stand out,” she admitted sadly. “Average build, lightish hair. Kind of like…” she trailed off, looking up and trying to remember any other details. Just then, a familiar face passed through the crowd. An average girl with a sandwich cooler was walking through the lobby.

And the man Phoebe had seen attacking her was right behind her.

“Her!”

Immediately, Phoebe jumped out of her seat, leaving Andy and Prue behind her, flabbergasted.

“What?” Prue asked, quickly jumping up and running after her sister.

Phoebe didn’t respond, rushing to follow after the girl. There were too many people around, though. By the time she reached the front doors, the girl had disappeared.

“Phoebe, what’s going on?!” Andy blurted as he caught up with her.

“That girl!” Phoebe gasped. “That girl with the cooler! That was her!”

“Tanya?” Prue asked, immediately concerned.

“Yes!” Phoebe blurted desperately. “And the killer was behind her! We have to find her!”

The urgency immediately flipped a switch in Andy’s demeanor. “Prue, go get security,” he ordered sharply, before nodding at Phoebe. “You go that way, I’ll go this way. She can’t have gotten far.”

The girls didn’t even wait for him to finish talking before rushing in opposite directions, Phoebe running for the parking lot while Prue went back inside, and Andy rushed towards the alley nearby.

Phoebe had just spotted the monster when she heard Tanya scream.

She sprinted at them, barreling into the man with all the force she could muster. Even that barely knocked him to the ground, but it let Phoebe glance at Tanya. The girl looked terrified, and there was a red mark on her forehead.

“Run!” she shouted at her. “Go, Tanya!”

The girl didn’t need telling twice. Phoebe’s eyes immediately locked on the monster as he straightened back up, looming over her threateningly. Without really thinking about it, she pulled a fist back, and punched him in the throat. He looked surprised, and made a choking noise as he staggered, giving her a chance to run after Tanya.

She jumped in the car just as Prue came around the corner with security, and told Tanya, “Just drive.”

When she looked back, their attacker had disappeared.

 

(-:-)

 

Sam didn’t pretend that he didn’t know Dean was there.

It was pointless. Dean had followed him into the kitchen, offered to get him a soda, sat down right across from him at the table when he stopped to eat the lunch he had missed. Dean didn’t do feelings, but he would do anything to make Sam or one of the girls feel better. So, knowing his big brother, he was about two seconds from flopping into Sam’s soup bowl to get some acknowledgement. When Dean started to go quiet, he spoke.

“I can’t put up with her, too.”

He didn’t look up at Dean, but he could pretty much feel him sag with relief that Sam was talking to him. “The teacher you screamed at?”

Nodding slightly, Sam swirled his spoon through his soup. “It’s just the last straw…” he grumbled. “My powers, my headaches, monsters, magic…I’ve put up with that before, and I can deal with it…but Ms. Porter picking on me because she _‘doesn’t like me’_ …” he shook his head, putting down his spoon and looking out the window. “It’s just too much…All of it is just getting to be too much.”

Dean didn’t say anything for a moment, but then shrugged. “The last few months have been pretty rough,” he admitted. “And you’re just a kid on top of it-“

Sam snorted, and looked over at dean. “I’m fifteen…”

“And that still makes you my kid brother,” Dean responded humorously, reaching across the table to ruffle Sam’s hair. “I’m just saying that I get it, it’s been tough. And you’ve got whatever freaky mojo on top of it what with the migraines and nightmares. I’m with Piper saying that you shouldn’t have used the spell on a teacher, but you deserve to have a little freak out. I’m told that venting is good for the soul…”

Sam snorted, and pushed at one of Dean’s shoulders, making his brother laugh.

Looking on from the living room, Piper felt a little relieved. Although she didn’t know what Sam was saying, she knew her cousins well enough to see that Dean was getting through to him. Whatever was eating Sam, Dean could fix it. He always could.

“Is he doing better?”

Piper glanced over her shoulder at Leo, and shrugged slightly. “It looks like it,” she said quietly, moving away from the doorway. “Dean’s got it under control.”

“That’s good,” Leo said, looking back through the door way, considering. “Sam’s already got enough to worry about. He doesn’t need this too.”

“You can say that again…”

They were quiet for a second before Piper asked, “How is your girlfriend?”

For a few moments, Leo didn’t answer, looking at Piper confusedly as he tried to find an answer. “Who?” he eventually asked.

Piper looked at him, raising an eyebrow. “Your girlfriend,” she repeated, looking a little confused. “That girl you went to lunch at Quake with? Hester?”

After hearing her name, an expression of realization appeared on Leo’s face. He nearly laughed. “You though Hester…” he started. “Piper, I think you got the wrong impression…”

Despite the confusion she felt from Leo’s laughter, a tiny, hopeful smile grew on Piper’s face. “What?” she asked. “What’s so funny?”

He put a hand on the back of his neck as he smiled at her sheepishly. “It’s just…Hester,” he said, still laughing a little. “…She’s my sister.”

Piper’s eyes went just a little bit wider, and her little smile turned into a full on grin. “You mean-oh. Well that’s embarrassing…” she stammered a little, but just moments later, she started laughing right along with him.

“It’s okay,” Leo said. “I’ve got a lot of siblings, actually, but no girlfriend, so…”

Piper stilled slightly, and took a second to steel her nerves before saying, “Well if you’d ever like to change that, I’m free.”

It took a moment for Leo to catch what she had said. His laughter died down so that he could look at her with surprise, and maybe something happy.

She stood a little taller, taking it as a good sign that she could continue. “Do you want to catch a movie sometime?”

Leo didn’t even think before saying, “Yes.”

The second it was out of his mouth though, the smile fell away. “Ah…I mean…”

Piper’s smile started to fall too. “Leo?”

He mouth twisted wistfully. “It’s just…” he started, pausing as he tried to think of the words. “Look, I don’t want to give you the wrong impression, because I…I would love to go out with you, but…” He trailed off and looked at the ground. “It…I can’t. I’m sorry.”

Piper’s mouth opened as she tried to force back the sick feeling of rejection. “Can’t?” she asked, her voice warbling a little.

Leo looked back up, his face completely consumed by regret. “It’s complicated. There’s this rule…”

The door opened before he could say more, and in walked Phoebe, her arm over the shoulder of a woman who was obviously in terror.

“I don’t understand…” she stammered. “What-?”

“I’ll tell you in just a second,” Phoebe promised, cutting her off before the question could fully form.

Piper walked away from Leo. “Phoebe what-“

Without letting her sister finish, either, Phoebe cut her off by grabbing her shoulder and sharply turning her around. “We need to talk,” she blurted quickly, before dragging her into the kitchen.

 

(-:-)

 

Dean took point by the edge of the living room, looking around protectively while the others were scattered around.

Tanya was on the phone now, calling her husband just to hear his voice. Leo was in front of her, looking at the dot that was seared into her forehead, and trying to figure out if the ointment in his First Aid kit would help any.

As usual, their friendly neighborhood handyman hadn’t asked any questions. He just took it as things came, and did what he could to help.

Phoebe was still sitting next to her, trying to figure out what the monster was after.

“Kids, do you have any kids?” she asked quietly.

“Not yet…” Tanya responded, before going back to her phone call. “Honey, I’m fine. There’s no reason to fly back early…” She paused, listening to him ask another question. “I’m…um, staying with friends. I’ll explain it all when you get home…”

“What about pets?” Phoebe asked.

Tanya shook her head. “No…I love you too…” After saying the last few words to her husband, she looked back to the people surrounding her. She looked mainly at Phoebe, having to dodge to look around Leo. “So, Um, before I can explain any of this to my husband, you’re gonna have to explain it to me. What’s going on?”

Phoebe winced a little. “Short story: you’re in danger. And to keep you out of it, we’re gonna have to keep you out of the obvious places, which is why you’re here…”

“But…but what was that thing?”

Phoebe winced, and opened her mouth to tell her the truth, about to blow their cover to Leo before Dean cut her off. “High tech laser.”

Everyone looked over at him, raising an eyebrow while he shrugged. “That’s what the police think it is anyway. Dude’s got it hidden pretty well so no one’s gotten a great look at it.”

Tanya’s face crumpled in confusion. “But I could have sworn…”

“This is a really stressful situation, Tanya,” Phoebe interrupted, jumping on board with Dean’s lie. “I wouldn’t be surprised if your brain is playing tricks on you…the point is, we’re trying to save you, alright. Our cop friends want you to stay here until we’ve caught the guy, okay?”

Despite the hesitancy on her face, Tanya slowly started to nod.

Phoebe stood up, and started to walk away. “I’m going to go check on Piper and Sam, okay?” she said to them, walking towards the stairs before she actually got an answer.

She found the missing members of her family in the attic. Sam was hunched over the Book of Shadows with Piper at his side, both of them looking back and forth to a yellow legal pad where they had written down Phoebe and Tanya’s description of the monster.

“Have you found anything in the Book?” Phoebe asked warily.

Piper looked up, pursing her lips as she shook her head. “Nothing that matches what you told us…”

“Andy said that the third victim was a professor at Stanford,” Sam muttered. “What’s the link with the other victims?”

“Well,” Phoebe started, “A professor, a geneticist, and a lab technician…”

“And a sandwich girl?” Piper injected, wondering about Tanya. “Without her, I would think that it was biogenetics, but I just don’t get how Tanya’s involved…”

They all slumped a little, trying to figure it out. Sam rolled his eyes, and groaned as he put his forehead down on the book in front of him. The second he made contact, though, a vision snapped through his head, making him yelp from the shock.

In his head, he could see a nursery. Tanya was sitting in a rocking chair with something swaddled in her arms. Something that could only be a baby.

He gasped as he came back to himself, and looked up to see Piper and Phoebe looming over him worriedly.

“She’s carrying!” he blurted.

Phoebe raised an eyebrow. “Carrying what?” she asked confusedly.

Sam shook his head, standing up as he rubbed his temples. “A baby,” he explained, starting to pace as the ideas started to come to him. “Tanya’s pregnant!”

Piper lit up a little, and she looked like she was about to go downstairs and say congratulations when Sam stopped her. “Wait-she doesn’t know yet.”

“What does that mean, though?” Phoebe started. “What do we do? We protect people, we don’t do prenatal…”

“To be fair, this isn’t the kind of information that Tanya needs right now,” Piper said after she had thought for a second. “Especially from people that she just met while some three eyed demon is trying to suck the life out of her…”

They paused, and after a moment, Phoebe’s eyes lit up. “Suck the life out of her…” she muttered, glancing between Piper and Sam. “Wait a minute, is it possible that it’s not Tanya he wants? That it’s her baby?”

Sam scratched the side of his head. “How would he know she’s pregnant?” he asked.

“Maybe he sees the future too,” Phoebe suggested, before she paused, eyes focusing as a new possibility came up. “Or else he’s from it…”

Piper and Sam both looked at Phoebe in confusion. “Excuse me?” Piper asked.

“The button,” Phoebe reminded them. “The police found that button with one of the last victims that is made out of some funky metal they’ve never seen before!”

A glance at her family members showed that they weren’t picking up the same thread she had. She sighed.

“Okay, there’s a button that shouldn’t exist, a demon that the Book of Shadows says doesn’t exist, and a baby that no one knows exists. You two have a better explanation?”

“Even if you’re right, how do we find him?” Sam asked.

“Well, he wants Tanya, doesn’t he?” suggested Piper. “He’ll find us.”

Sam looked at her pointedly. “But he doesn’t know where we are.”

“Well, he found Tanya at Buckland’s,” Phoebe muttered, “And he saw me…”

She trailed off as something else dawned on her.

“He saw me and Prue.”

 

(-:-)

 

Prue looked up when the door of her office opened, and Andy wandered in, looking completely worn out as he slid into the chair across from her.

It had been hours now since Tanya and Phoebe escaped. Andy had alerted the police to the attack, using security footage to confirm it was the same guy that had been in the parking garage the night before. They still had no idea how he was doing it, but at least they had a survivor.

Or, they would, if the police could find her.

Prue had lied when asked if she recognized Phoebe, doing everything she could to keep them away from the manor. Knowing what they were up against, Andy didn’t argue. Witches, he figured would be far better equipped to deal with a laser shooting demon.

But that meant that the police were scrambling to find her, leaving Andy behind to search the building.

“You okay?” Prue asked quietly, reaching a hand across the desk.

Andy looked up, and smiled slightly before reaching for her hand as well. “I will be,” he answered. “This case is just a little more complicated than the rest…”

To Prue’s relief, he actually laughed a little at the end, and she smiled back. “That happens a lot with us, I’m afraid,” she said. “Monsters aren’t the same as your everyday criminals.”

“I dunno,” Andy muttered. “Guys attacking people for kicks, that happens every day. That, I’m used to. Lying to your coworkers though…”

Prue’s smile fell away. “I know. It’s hard,” she muttered. “But you have to…are you going to be okay with that?”

There was a pause, and Andy shifted in his chair, thinking for a moment. “Honestly, if it means keeping you safe, a lie doesn’t seem like a big deal…”

A weight seemed to come off of Prue’s shoulders, and she squeezed his hand. “Thank you…”

He squeezed back, but didn’t smile.

“Don’t thank me yet…”

He leaned forwards onto the desk, looking Prue straight in the eye as her mouth turned down into a frown. “Earlier, when we were with Phoebe, you said you cast a spell on me. Why? You said you would explain…”

Prue’s gaze fell, but she still said, “To be fair, I cast the spell on myself, not you…but yes: I cast a truth spell.”

Andy’s eyebrows furrowed. “A truth spell?” he asked. “Why would…did you think I would lie?”

“No,” Prue cut in sharply. “It wasn’t that…” She shook her head, and met his gaze purposefully, trying to assure him of her trust if nothing else. “The spell has a time limit: twenty four hours where any question you ask has to be answered truthfully, and so does any question you are asked. And at the end…”

She paused, taking a breath, and wondering how he would react.

“At the end, everyone forgets.”

He looked at her silently for a moment, trying to figure out if she meant more than she was saying. “Forgets?” he echoed.

Prue nodded. “I couldn’t risk telling you and you reacting badly. This way, if I told you and you…didn’t like it, or refused to lie, you just wouldn’t remember in the morning.”

Andy looked down at their joined hands, rubbing a thumb over hers while he thought about what she was saying. “So, tonight, after twenty four hours has passed, I won’t remember anything from today?”

“You’ll remember parts,” she answered, “Just not anything I told you.”

They were silent for a few moments. Andy looked back up at her, and met her eyes.

“I understand,” he said eventually. “But when that time comes, you’ll tell me again, won’t you?”

Prue leaned across the desk. “I promise.”

They had moved so that they were less than inches apart as they talked, leaving them gazing into one another’s eyes in the empty office. Without hesitation, Andy crossed the remaining distance, kissing her softly as one of his hands reached to cup her neck, and Prue leaned into it.

When the kiss broke, Andy smiled and stood up. “I’m going to look around one more time. Get ready to go and we can catch dinner before your Jedi-mind-trick hits me.”

Prue had to laugh, and she leant back to give him a mock salute. “Yes sir!”

He grinned as he walked out, heading down the hall to check the rest of the office before they left.

He was just far enough that he didn’t hear the elevator doors open, or see the man that walked out of it.

Or that the man walked straight to Prue’s office.

 

(-:-)

 

Leo did his best to restrain himself as Dean kept pacing back and forth near the door to the garage. In front of him Tanya was doing her best to keep it together, but the lines of strain and worry were written all over her face.

Tanya was the Halliwells innocent, their charge at least for today. By default, that made her his charge. It was his first instinct to calm her down, to heal her, and try to help. With Dean standing so close by, though, there was only so much he could do without giving himself away.

“You okay?” he asked quietly.

Tanya looked up at him. The look in her eyes was answer enough, but all the same she shook her head.

Dean tried to be reassuring, and walked over, kneeling down so that both he and Leo were at eye level. “It’ll all be okay, Tanya. In a few hours, this will probably seem like a dream...”

“More like a nightmare.”

The lack of relief on her part took Dean’s smile away, and he was thankful when he heard the phone ring. “Ah…I’ll go get that.”

Leo tried not to smile as Dean walked away, amused by his charge.

But with him gone, he smiled at Tanya, glad that the truth spell would make her forget in a few hours. “It will all be okay, you know,” he said, catching her gaze, and giving her the consoling look he had used all those years ago, back when he was an actual soldier. “The Halliwells are good people. They’ll do everything they can to protect you.”

“I still can’t believe I need protection,” Tanya replied, shaking her head. “And what about that thing? I know what I saw, it was…it was a monster…”

Leo nodded. “I know, and I believe you,” he answered calmly. “And believe it or not, Phoebe and Dean believe you too.”

“But she said…”

“She’s trying not to scare you,” Leo responded quietly. “She’s new at this. She and Dean don’t know how to break it to you without making them sound crazy. But they know, and they’ll protect you.” He leaned forward, moving to look intently at the burn mark that still showed on her forehead.

Tanya shook her head, and looked up at him. “How are they supposed to do that?”

With a smile, Leo reached a hand up, brushing a finger over the burns. “Believe it or not…” he started. “There’s magic out there too…”

Without saying a word, his hand glowed slightly, and Tanya’s eyes widened as the blue light healed the mark on her forehead. He took his hand away as it faded, and looked at her with a smile just as someone’s footsteps started to bang down the stairs.

Dean walked in from the other room, hanging up the phone as Phoebe, Sam and Piper made it into the living room. “Hey, Sam, your principal called to apologize about something to do with Ms. Porter…”

“Don’t care!” Sam yelled. “Bigger problems.”

Dean’s brow furrowed as his brother bolted through the front door, rushing out to the car.

“What?” Dean muttered, raising an eyebrow. “Sam-“

“Prue’s not answering her phone and the monster saw me with her!” Phoebe explained as she rushed after Sam. “Going to Buckland’s!”

Dean opened his mouth again, but Piper came by too, facing him and quickly saying. “Stay here, protect Tanya, we will explain everything later!”

A few seconds later, she was gone too, leaving Dean with his arms out, sputtering in confusion.

“Um…okay then?”

 

(-:-)

 

Prue had just put away her files, and was starting to get her purse together when a figure moved into the doorway.

“Excuse me, are you Miss Halliwell? Prue Halliwell?”

She looked up confusedly at the balding man for a moment. “Yes,” she answered hesitantly. “Did we have an appointment?”

The man didn’t smile at her as he walked into the office. “No, actually. I’m looking for someone, and I believe you can help me.”

He seemed to be trying to bore a hole through her with his eyes, and Prue drew her arms closer to her chest. “I find objects, not people.”

He laughed as if she had just told a joke, and responded, “Well, I think you might know her. I saw you talking to her earlier. Um, Petite, brown hair. The two of you were in the lobby earlier.”

“I don’t remember.”

The man stopped smiling. “Are you sure?” he asked sharply.

“What do you want with her?” Prue demanded.

The man didn’t hesitate before saying, “She is hiding the woman I was sent back to kill.”

It took Prue a moment to realize that the truth spell worked on him too, and as he choked on his words, trying to figure out why he had said that, Prue asked another question.

“Sent back from where?”

“The future,” the man replied, glaring at her now, and dodging forward like he was going to attack. “What are you doi-”

Prue stumbled backwards. “Why kill Tanya?”

“I don’t want Tanya…I want…what’s inside of her…No!” Once the words were out of his mouth, he stepped back, turning away from her and pressing a fist to his mouth.

“And the others? Why kill them?”

“They’re all pieces of the puzzle. Pieces of the vaccine,” he answered haltingly, before rounding on her. “Stop this!” He shoved a chair out of the way, but before he could reach Prue, she squeezed her eyes shut, using her powers to shove her desk at him. The desk forced him to the wall, and cleared the way so that she could run.

Down the hallway, Andy was running towards her, alerted by the noise. “Prue, what’s going-“

“He found me!” Prue told him, grabbing his hand and pulling him towards the store room. “Come on!”

Andy gripped her hand, following right behind her as she opened the door to a room full of crates. As they settled behind one, Andy heard the door open.

“I’ve got eight and a half months to find Tanya Miss Halliwell. Plenty of time…” the monster said to them. “Yours, however, has run out…”

Andy’s grip on her hand tightened, and he pulled her towards another crate, bigger, and easier to hide behind.

“You can’t hide from me forever…” the monster chuckled.

Before Prue could stop him, Andy let go of her hand, leaving her well hidden as he stood up, and pulled out his sidearm.

“Put your hands where I can see them,” he demanded in his best cop voice.

The monster looked over at him, and raised an eyebrow. “When did you get here?” he seemed to laugh.

Andy ignored him. “Under the authority of the San Francisco Police department, I’m placing you under arrest for the murders of Oliver Mitchell, Alex Peterson and Madison Wells. Now, put your hands where I can see them.”

Prue didn’t know if he was serious, or if he was just trying to distract the monster, but her heart started racing with fear. “Andy _no…_ ” she hissed.

“I’m afraid that I can’t allow that…” the monster said. He started moving towards Andy. Without warning, Andy shot at him, once, twice, three times. Not a single bullet slowed him down, and when he reached Andy, he knocked the gun aside, grabbing his shoulders.

Prue crawled out from behind the crate just in time to see an eye sprout from the monster’s forehead, and shoot a light into Andy’s terrified face.

Andy started to scream.

“No!” Prue shouted and running towards them.

The door banged open before she could reach him, making the monster turn away from Andy as Piper, Phoebe, and Sam ran through the door. Piper waved her hands, making the monster freeze, and Andy slumped in his grip.

“Need a hand?” Phoebe quipped, although Prue ignored her, instead running to Andy’s side, pulling him out of the monster’s grip.

“Andy, are you okay?” she asked quickly, looking over him frantically. He obviously wasn’t: out of breath, with a new red mark on his forehead. Sam moved over to help Prue support his weight; he obviously needed it.

Nearby, Piper had grabbed a crowbar off of one of the crates, and was looking at the monster warily. “This isn’t gonna last long,” Piper said, wielding it like a baseball bat in case he unfroze. “Any ideas how we’re gonna kill him?”

“Just whack him,” Phoebe argued easily, only for Piper to make a face.

“Are you serious?” she asked incredulously. “That’s not gonna work…”

“Well do you have any better suggestions?”

“Guys,” Sam grumbled. “He’s gonna unfreeze soon. Just do something.”

Piper shoved the crowbar into Phoebe’s hands. “Well you do it then.”

Phoebe looked just as distressed about doing it, and shoved it back at Piper. “No you!”

“Phoebe!” Piper grumbled.

Without warning, Piper’s power over the monster stopped, and he unfroze. The girls shrieked. With both of their hands on the crowbar, they shoved it forward, piercing his third eye and driving the bar through his skull. He let out a wail of anguish, forcing the girls to stumble back as magic surrounded him. It swirled around him again and again until suddenly, it had disappeared, taking him with it.

The Halliwells all looked at each other nervously, wondering if that was it, if it was over.

It was Andy that shakily asked, “Do they always clean up after themselves?”

 

(-:-)

 

The drive to Andy’s apartment was silent. In the half hour since he had nearly been brainwashed by a demon, Andy still wasn’t entirely there. Occasionally he would blink out the window, seemingly stunned at what had just happened. Other times, he seemed like he was about to pass out, if not from shock, then from the blow he had taken to the head.

Intermittently, he would smile at her weakly.

Prue presumed that he was trying to reassure her, and try to let her know that he was okay.

Yet the image of him being targeted by a demon wouldn’t get out of her head.

She had seen the same scene plenty of times now, when her sisters or her cousins got into a brawl with a demon. Every time, she felt scared, but it was nothing compared to how she felt when it was Andy. Piper, Phoebe, Dean and Sam were witches after all: they were meant to fight monsters. They had powers, which meant that they stood a chance, and for all the skill Andy had, it just didn’t hold up against the things that the Halliwells fought.

Being with her put him in danger, and that fact only became clearer with every mile they drove.

She could only think of one way to fix it.

Once they reached Andy’s house, he reached for her hand. Despite the way that her heart was breaking, she looked over at him with a smile.

He smiled back, but all she saw was the burn mark that grazed the side of his shirt. “This has been a hell of a night,” he tried to joke.

A sad attempt at a laugh escaped from Prue’s throat when she caught a glimpse of the radio clock. It was two minutes until eight.

“You could say that.”

The smile on his face started to wane, and he squeezed her hand. “Prue…” he breathed. “Everything is okay. All of us made it out.”

She sniffed, nodding stiffly and looking up at him. “Just cutting it a little close, you know…” she muttered, before leaning across the console to put her head on his shoulder. He didn’t question it, and wrapped his arms around her, kissing her forehead.

With her eyes on the clock, Prue did what she could to enjoy the moment, trying to memorize the feeling. The time started to tick down, and at the last moment she whispered, “I love you.”

The clock struck eight.

Andy’s grip over her shoulders changed slightly, as if he were confused, and had forgotten where he was. Slowly, Prue pulled back, putting on a face that said nothing was wrong.

“You okay?” she asked, barely keeping her voice from shaking.

Andy glanced around. “Ah, yeah…yeah, I’m just tired I guess. What were we talking about?”

Prue put a hand up, and touched his cheek. “It was nothing.”

 

(-:-)

 

When the clock struck eight, Dean looked around in shock, wondering why the hell he was at Quake, and what he had been doing all day. Sam and Phoebe giggled at him, but Piper took pity on him and gave him an overview of their day.

Dean shook his head, wincing slightly about the spell and the monster before grumbling. “A truth spell…wow. No one said anything stupid did they?”

Phoebe’s eyes narrowed slyly. “Well, if you don’t count telling us about the panties you were wearing because you decided not to help me with the hunt…” she said vindictively.

Dean’s eyes went wide, and Sam laughed, but Piper shot the youngest Halliwell a look that made him stop. “I actually think Sam wins the prize for stupid things said under the influence.”

That perked Dean back up, and he looked at his brother with a grin as Sam rolled his eyes. “It’s not like they’ll remember it,” he grumbled. “At least not Ms. Porter. She’ll forget, although I can’t promise that everyone else at school will.”

Right as Phoebe was about to make a comment, she stopped after having a sudden realization. “Wait a second, that forgetting thing might be a problem,” she muttered worriedly. “Leo and Tanya were driving home. What if they forget they’re driving and…”

“I don’t think the spell will be that drastic,” Sam cut in, before Phoebe could get worked up. “I’m sure they’re okay…”

“Speaking of Leo,” Dean started, looking at Piper concernedly. “I know he was at the manor today. What happened? You weren’t avoiding him or anything, were you?”

Piper looked at the table, smiling a little wistfully. “Maybe a little…” she admitted. “I, uh, actually talked to him, before Tanya and everything. Turns out that the girl I saw him with last week was his sister, not his girlfriend…” She pretended to laugh, and looked up. “Embarrassing, right?”

The other’s all smiled at her. “Well, Piper, that’s good news isn’t it?” Phoebe laughed.

“Damn right it is,” Dean said, grinning lecherously. “Time for Piper to get her some…”

Piper wrinkled her nose, and shook her head. “No…actually, because after he told me that, I asked him out. And he said no.”

As their smiles fell, Dean, Phoebe and Sam all got a look of confusion on their faces. Dean was about to glare, but Piper shrugged.

“He said it was complicated, and he looked really sorry about it,” she muttered. “I don’t know, it was kind of weird. But hey, he’s a good guy. We can still be friends, right?”

Sharing a confused glance at Dean, Sam started to say, “I guess…” before his eyes focused on the entryway to the room they were in, and a familiar, sad face walked in.

“Oh no…”

They all turned around as Prue walked towards the table, without Andy, and with an expression on her face that threatened tears.

Phoebe stood up, putting a hand on her shoulder as she guided her sister to the table. “Honey, what happened?”

Prue sat down, and put her head in her hands before saying, “I couldn’t tell him.”

The words hit them all hard, and while they wanted to ask what she meant, that she couldn’t possibly have chickened out, they all knew what she meant.

“I just…I couldn’t,” she choked. “After seeing what happened to him today…”

Phoebe pulled her into her arms, resting Prue’s head on her shoulder. “I’m so sorry…”

As she stroked Phoebe’s hair, Dean swallowed thickly, trying to think of something helpful to say, and almost completely failing. “Prue…I’m…I know it sucks, but you might have done the right thing. At least he’ll be safe, right?”

At the reminder, Prue looked at him, and tried to nod, but tears kept streaming onto Phoebe’s sweater all the same..

The other Halliwells looked at her sadly, before Piper sighed. “Well, I’d say this calls for a drink,” she muttered. “I’ll be back in a second.”

She slid out of her seat walked to the bar before ordering a bottle of their best wine. As she waited, she looked across the room and saw Leo stumbling past a waiter. For a split second, her heart squeezed, regretful that he had turned her down for whatever reason, but at least he had been honest. At least they hadn’t started dating only for him to break up with her for some inexplicable reason, or because Piper had told him that she was a witch, or because Piper had decided to keep him safe...

He saw her across the room too and waved, although he looked confused. He walked over and slid onto one of the barstools. “Hey,” he greeted.

Piper smiled, not a hint of her disappointment showing on her face. “Hey. I can’t say I expected to see you here tonight.”

“I didn’t really expect to be here tonight,” he said, shrugging a little. “It’s just…a bit ago I was driving home and I suddenly felt like I should apologize or something. I remember being at your house all day, but I can’t remember why…”

For a second, Piper’s smile faltered, remembering the spell.

Leo didn’t remember what he had said, and that meant that he didn’t remember telling her no. There was a moment where she considered trying again, wondering if he would say something different this time. But she stopped as soon as it was in her head. He had said no, and regardless of her feelings, there had to have been a good reason. He had given her a truthful answer, and she needed to do the same for him.

“No, you didn’t do anything,” she said, shrugging a little. “You just told me something that I needed to hear. Really, you were a big help.”

That seemed to make Leo only more confused, but he didn’t get a chance to ask before the bartender brought Piper her wine, and a tray of glasses.

His brow wrinkled as he looked up at her. “Y’all having a party?” he asked.

Piper let out a breath, looking regretfully over at their table. “Not quite,” she sighed. “Prue…Prue had a rough time today. She…um…she and Andy are having problems.”

“Ouch. Is she okay?” he asked, standing up as Piper took the tray off of the counter. “You know, never mind, I should probably just go…”

“Maybe…” Piper muttered, her voice a little sad too, but when she looked back at the table, she saw how Dean and Phoebe were still trying to perk Prue up. They had an extra chair at the table, and Leo had done a great job comforting Tanya. They might be having a family moment, but who was to say that Leo couldn’t help out, just like he had the entire time that he had known them.

“But um…maybe you could help?” she asked, and Leo looked at her in surprise. “I mean, I know you said a second ago that you didn’t remember today, but you did a good job making a friend of ours feel better. I know that Prue being miserable about Andy isn’t exactly the same thing, but…maybe?”

Leo looked over at the table, and looked like he was trying to figure out whether he would be intruding or not, but Piper heaved the tray of glasses up so that he realized that she was telling him to join them. Boyfriend or not, Piper was happy to have him around, and she knew that the others would too. So he smiled a little and followed her to the table.

When they got there, Phoebe looked at them funny, and Sam looked confused, but Prue smiled, and asked him to pour her a drink. Dean laughed, and slowly the others all followed.

She didn’t feel any better about Andy that night, or for many nights to come.

But having her family there with her sure helped.

%MCEPASTEBIN%

**Author's Note:**

> So yeah. Circumstances have changed: The Charmed timeline is diverging with the introduction of the Winchesters, Supernatural characters are appearing incrementally, and we’re building up to the end of the story arc. I can’t wait to get started on the next half of the season TBH. Then things really get fun.  
> Also, rewatching this episode made me want to go back to the nineties to fact check. Seriously, Prue was wearing a belly top at work. Was that actually a thing? Was that really business appropriate? Weird…  
> Next chapter: Rex puts the final pieces together, Phoebe's ex-boyfriend Clay visits, and the Charmed ones deal with a thief named Bela Talbot and his young assistant Abby.


End file.
